VCR picture clear & then noisy every 5 seconds

Saraah: FIRST.... clean the VCR heads and tape path including guides and rollers with special attention paid to the AC head, capstan and pinch roller. Try a different or a new tape..... the tape is possibly edge damaged which would cause problems for the VCR reading the control track signal. If this happens with ALL tapes, then look for a worn pinch roller. worn capstan bearing or bent loading arm that could cause the tape to ride up or down on the A/C head while playing.

-- Best Regards, Daniel Sofie Electronics Supply & Repair

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

How many hours on the VCR (play and record) roughly?

AH, I don't know how many hours it has, someone gave it to our thrift shop so I thought I would look at it, date of manf is 2001. Its nne of those things where people buy a new one & put the old one in the new box & give it to us, making us think its the new one in the box.

Tried lots of films on it, cleaned heads, same thing happens. It is consistent tho.

Check tape path alignment.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Mirror:

Repair | Main Table of Contents:

+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: | Mirror Sites:

Note: These links are hopefully temporary until we can sort out the excessive traffic on Repairfaq.org.

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is ignored unless my full name is included in the subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

$39 @ walmart = new VCR

--

-------------------------------------------------------------- "Your never really alone with a schizophrenic." An unknown comedian.

.

I read your faq page, Ive been reading it for like ten years. I didn't specificially notice this one there, but you did mention a back tension adjustment might cause intermittent noise.

Sarah wrote: snipped:

Sarah: Video Tape, NOT films. Have you extra-vigorously cleaned the A/C head? Have you checked the tape(s) for edge damage? Have you tried recording and playing back on a NEW tape. Have you looked at how the tape runs past the A/C head while playing? i.e. does it ride up or down on the head? Have your read the 03-25-2005 reply posting by Sofie? copied below for your convenience:

"FIRST.... clean the VCR heads and tape path including guides and rollers with special attention paid to the AC head, capstan and pinch roller. Try a different or a new tape..... the tape is possibly edge damaged which would cause problems for the VCR reading the control track signal. If this happens with ALL tapes, then look for a worn pinch roller. worn

capstan bearing or bent loading arm that could cause the tape to ride up or down on the A/C head while playing."

When you find something at thrift store going for much less than retail you can almost be assured that it is not new and more than likely the previous owner had some kind of problems with it... but the likely fault for the symptoms you posted are probably not hard to fix.... and by the way the problem is most likely NOT a back-tension problem. Check the things mentioned above and you can probably get this machine working fairly inexpensively unless the fault turns out to be a bad servo chip or bad capstan motor. electricitym . .

sorry shouldn't that be:

$39 @ walmart = new 'piece of flimsily made junk' VCR

?? Ben

Yes, but for 89.00 you could add 'with Progressive Scan DVD player made by Pioneer'...

I do believe the OP wanted to fix this unit and I cannot see why not, as there is a certain and great satisfaction in repairing any older items, be it a '57 Thunderbird or a 15 y.o. TV set.

Its a dual unit, not just a vcr. Arent any dual units for $39. Besides, it has RF out & for a dvd player, that's important to me. Usually I would think that RF out for DVD would suck but it actually produces a pretty decent picture.

: none wrote: :> $39 @ walmart = new VCR : sorry shouldn't that be: : $39 @ walmart = new 'piece of flimsily made junk' VCR

$99 at Costco = replacement cost. Hardly worth the trouble fixing it.

b.